STOP! Look at this picture... Take it all in. Think about what you see. How would you react to these signs?
Now if you ignored the opening of this post you will probably be pretty confused at first by its contents. There are signs when driving that warn us to stop; or to be ready to stop. Now, that being said, of course, there are the same type of signs in life. If you ignored the warning sign in the picture, and then ignored the railroad crossing sign further down, you might not stop at the tracks ahead. You might be okay this time, but if you keep doing it you might find yourself driving over those tracks for the last time. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Maybe. But the reality is, if we don't pay attention to stop signs or street lights we're likely to have major accidents.
In life, God gives us many warning signs. Sometimes they warn us to wait and see (like a four-way stop), others warn us of dead ends. So often we ignore these signs, either through simple ignorance or out of straight off rebellion, not realizing that these signs are here for our protection. Now, many of these signs are written out plain and simple in scriptures.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Here Paul tells us to stop, get off the popular route and take God's way. Why? Well to be blunt about it, the popular road will end in the greatest wreck of all time. If we change to God's road we will be rescued from the multiple-car pile-up called Hell. Jesus tells us the same thing in Matthew 7:13-14:
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
This is probably the second largest sign in scriptures. It is a warning sign, it screams out CAUTION!, YIELD!, LANE ENDS! Do not ignore this sign! Take the next exit at Calvary.
The largest sign God gives us in all of history and all of scripture is that of open arms, the cross, and an empty tomb. It is both a stop light and a green light.
Isaiah 43:19
19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus' death on the cross was a stop sign; Isaiah 43:19 implores you to stop and look. "Look at what I am doing! I am dying the death you deserve; receiving the punishment that should be upon you. I am making a path through the wilderness and streams of life through the wasteland." His open arms on the cross invite us to come and behold Him. And then the empty tomb he left behind says, "Look and see I have defeated death; I am the life, I am the way, and I am the truth. You cannot escape the punishment except through me." He says to us to go forth in freedom (Ephesians 3:12).
Do not be led on to believe that the highway is better because so many are on it. To follow that road is only to run into the arms of destruction; to run into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do not look at the distractions on the way, which promise so much, but in the end only hasten you to your death. Heed the signs and pull off, take the narrow road. It isn't easy, but it offers the greatest joy and the greatest kind of love, that which is irreplaceable.
